by Davy James, Staff Writer
State Sen. Bill Baroni, whose district includes South Brunswick, has long stressed the importance of getting young people enthusiastic about public service.
In an effort to engage students in his district with politics, Sen. Baroni, a Republican, met with AP Government students at South Brunswick High School on Tuesday and discussed various issues of importance to him while also taking questions from the students on issues important to them.
”I used to volunteer for Congressman Chris Smith, and I fell in love with politics, and I fell in love with public service there,” Sen. Baroni told the students. “Which is why I work so hard on my internship program. I’m a big believer in students getting involved in politics early on.”
Sen. Baroni said his work for the state Assembly inspired him to get involved because of his belief in the good honest politicians are capable of accomplishing.
”Sometimes we would hit every county in the state in the same day, and I drove up and down the turnpike,” he said. “I learned about New Jersey and how diverse it is. I saw the good work you can do to help your neighbors. I didn’t want to wake up when I was 50 years old and say, ‘why didn’t I run for office?’ “
As part of his internship program for students, Sen. Baroni said he believes strongly in the power of grassroots campaigning where he and his volunteers knock on doors and listen to the concerns of residents throughout the area. He told the students about his initial campaign for state Assembly in Hamilton, which had a history of supporting Democrats.
”I just knocked on doors, and over and over again, I would hear people say the same thing,” Sen. Baroni said. “They’d say that nobody has ever knocked on my door before, and I’ve never even seen a politician before.”
Sen. Baroni told the students most politicians do a lot of talking without listening to the concerns of the people they serve. He said listening to such concerns has helped to shape many of the policies important to him locally, such as the widening of Route 1 in South Brunswick and housing for the disabled.
The students related some of their own concerns to Sen. Baroni, touching on issues of class size and school funding. Sen. Baroni told the students he’s worked hard to increase accountability for wasteful spending in districts throughout his area. He said he believes there’s too much focus on the standardized testing.
”Checking progress is a good thing, but we have some great teachers here, and we need to let them teach,” he said. “I’m concerned that all we do is test. We all do better with higher graduation rates. We all are invested in making sure the public education system works.”
Sen. Baroni said one of his campaign promises was to visit each of the 53 schools in his district, and he has done so. The benefit, he hopes, is to inspire students to get involved as he once was.
He told the students of one visit to an elementary school where he asked students in a fourth-grade class about becoming president. One of the students in the class said she didn’t want to be president because politics is dirty.
”When we’ve got fourth-graders saying they don’t want to go into politics because it’s dirty, then we fail,” he said. “I’m visiting schools to fight that perception. Politics is a good profession, and you can help people.”